1st August
HOME VALLEY STATION
Well week one over and I am now back in town with 2 days off. God the Gibb River Road is getting very corrugated and because of this my air-conditioning has been damaged which I am having repaired today. All up I have had a good week and it has been pretty quiet as far as house keeping goes and a lot more laid back than Ayers Rock. I am working with 2 other people and a trainee Aboriginal girl. It has been getting quite hot and will continue too do so as winter comes to an end, not that you would think it was winter here. At the moment it would average about 32 to 34 degrees but it cools down at night quite a bit. The mozzies are really bad here and I have had to get vigilant with covering up when I am shooting in the evenings or even just having dinner. They are around during the day also but I will not wear insect repellent during the day. I have made a batch of home brew with consists of dettol, baby oil, and tea tree oil and I am trialing this at the moment to see how effective it is in the peak times. It seems to be working quite well but its only the second day I have worn it and I already had that many bites on me from the previous few days that I am not sure what bites are old and what bites are new and so have to wait a few more days for the old bites to go away before I really start to see how well this stuff works. Everyone at Home Valley reckons I smell like a hospital and are laughing at me but I don’t care as long as it helps and its not poisonous like airoguard and Bushmans which I still use from time to time on my clothes because they bite through clothes as well if they can. I have been scratching myself silly and am over it!!! Have I put you off from visiting this area yet??? Let me tell you its worth it. There are only about 30 staff out here including the aboriginal trainees and there all great people. I have been getting to know a couple of the Aboriginal workers including Diesel and Cyril. Diesel is a character and knows a lot about this land considering his people own a huge chunk of it. He was kind enough to take me and Belinda who also works in housekeeping out to an old truck wreck on his land the other evening so I could photograph it. The truck was on what he calls the marsh land. The trip out was fun and there is now way I could take my car out there as it was just to rough in quite a few places. I think we crossed 3 creeks which were very rocky or should I say full of boulders. We were getting thrown from side to side in the Toyota like rag dolls and I thought my boobs were going to jump out of my bra several times but it was fun and we trusted Deisel as he has been driving these bush tracks most of his life, we estimate his age at about 55. While we were out there and just after I had finished shooting a mob of wild brumbies came through and it was amazing to see. It was a full moon and cloudy which is very rare to see cloud in the sky at this time of year and the sun was already right down so unfortunately it was just to dark to get a sharp shot of them all but the memory of this will be with me forever.
Cyril who is one of the trainees and looks after the horses at the property is also a character with an infectious laugh but a lot younger, he has asked me to go riding and I will be going out with him soon. I plan to photograph both Deisel and Cyril and hope to have some shots in the coming weeks. I am so grateful to be able to meet these people and get to know them and some of their culture. I was so disheartened up to now seeing what I have seen happening with alcohol and drugs and petrol abuse with the aboriginal communities through NT that It left me with quite a negative opinion about them. Now I am starting to see so much positive stuff out here and it’s fantastic.
The chef out here for us is great, we have great food every day and the first night I arrived we had spare ribs now these were not just any spare ribs they were huge cow ribs and I could not believe it. This is a cattle station so we do have a lot of beef!!!!(photo attached) Staff accommodation is brand new and the rooms are really nice with air-conditoning. The shower and toilet block are new also and its all open by this I mean you can see the sky when your in the shower and last night I was looking at the full moon while having a shower. They are spending a lot of money to upgrade everything on this property as it was very run down. The Bush camp ground has new toilet and shower facilities also and the view is amazing. I love going out to clean there because of the view. MORE PICS COMING SHORTLY
HOME VALLEY STATION
Well week one over and I am now back in town with 2 days off. God the Gibb River Road is getting very corrugated and because of this my air-conditioning has been damaged which I am having repaired today. All up I have had a good week and it has been pretty quiet as far as house keeping goes and a lot more laid back than Ayers Rock. I am working with 2 other people and a trainee Aboriginal girl. It has been getting quite hot and will continue too do so as winter comes to an end, not that you would think it was winter here. At the moment it would average about 32 to 34 degrees but it cools down at night quite a bit. The mozzies are really bad here and I have had to get vigilant with covering up when I am shooting in the evenings or even just having dinner. They are around during the day also but I will not wear insect repellent during the day. I have made a batch of home brew with consists of dettol, baby oil, and tea tree oil and I am trialing this at the moment to see how effective it is in the peak times. It seems to be working quite well but its only the second day I have worn it and I already had that many bites on me from the previous few days that I am not sure what bites are old and what bites are new and so have to wait a few more days for the old bites to go away before I really start to see how well this stuff works. Everyone at Home Valley reckons I smell like a hospital and are laughing at me but I don’t care as long as it helps and its not poisonous like airoguard and Bushmans which I still use from time to time on my clothes because they bite through clothes as well if they can. I have been scratching myself silly and am over it!!! Have I put you off from visiting this area yet??? Let me tell you its worth it. There are only about 30 staff out here including the aboriginal trainees and there all great people. I have been getting to know a couple of the Aboriginal workers including Diesel and Cyril. Diesel is a character and knows a lot about this land considering his people own a huge chunk of it. He was kind enough to take me and Belinda who also works in housekeeping out to an old truck wreck on his land the other evening so I could photograph it. The truck was on what he calls the marsh land. The trip out was fun and there is now way I could take my car out there as it was just to rough in quite a few places. I think we crossed 3 creeks which were very rocky or should I say full of boulders. We were getting thrown from side to side in the Toyota like rag dolls and I thought my boobs were going to jump out of my bra several times but it was fun and we trusted Deisel as he has been driving these bush tracks most of his life, we estimate his age at about 55. While we were out there and just after I had finished shooting a mob of wild brumbies came through and it was amazing to see. It was a full moon and cloudy which is very rare to see cloud in the sky at this time of year and the sun was already right down so unfortunately it was just to dark to get a sharp shot of them all but the memory of this will be with me forever.
Cyril who is one of the trainees and looks after the horses at the property is also a character with an infectious laugh but a lot younger, he has asked me to go riding and I will be going out with him soon. I plan to photograph both Deisel and Cyril and hope to have some shots in the coming weeks. I am so grateful to be able to meet these people and get to know them and some of their culture. I was so disheartened up to now seeing what I have seen happening with alcohol and drugs and petrol abuse with the aboriginal communities through NT that It left me with quite a negative opinion about them. Now I am starting to see so much positive stuff out here and it’s fantastic.
The chef out here for us is great, we have great food every day and the first night I arrived we had spare ribs now these were not just any spare ribs they were huge cow ribs and I could not believe it. This is a cattle station so we do have a lot of beef!!!!(photo attached) Staff accommodation is brand new and the rooms are really nice with air-conditoning. The shower and toilet block are new also and its all open by this I mean you can see the sky when your in the shower and last night I was looking at the full moon while having a shower. They are spending a lot of money to upgrade everything on this property as it was very run down. The Bush camp ground has new toilet and shower facilities also and the view is amazing. I love going out to clean there because of the view. MORE PICS COMING SHORTLY
2 comments:
Hi Julz
I am constantly amazed at the beauty you find in your surroundings and the fabulous images you have given us all. I think you make Ken Duncan look like an amature. I loved the latest image of the old truck at Cockburn range. Glad you enjoy the place you are at now. You remind me of the explorer / pioneer spirit and are truly an amazing woman.(and your not hard to look at either)
You take care out their, I am looking forward to your next adventure.
One of your many fans/friends
Hermann
Hi Herman, thanks for the compliments but you better stop or my head will get tooooo big! I was priveliged to get that shot of the truck.
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